Words don't hide foreign policy failures

10:35 AM,
Jan. 30, 2014

Written by

Ilan Berman

That President Obama attempted to put a positive spin on his Administration's beleaguered foreign policy in his fifth State of the Union Address should have come as a surprise to no one.

From the Middle East to Asia, recent months have witnessed a United States in strategic retreat and a growing list of adversaries emboldened by America's perceived weakness. So it was to be expected that the president's speech on Tuesday evening entailed a significant burnishing of his meager accomplishments abroad.

Even so, the address included a number of blatant mischaracterizations of just what the ...